I Have a Home.

I have a home. We have been in our new house for 1 week today.

TJ got home late Thursday night after working with his dad’s company, doing a job he committed to doing with them as they needed some extra help. While he was gone, Elin (TJ’s younger sister) had come over to hang out with me and help for a couple days. She helped me clear the living room of all the boxes, put the rug down and vacuumed it! She helped me go to Costco and Trader Joe’s with the girls to get all the necessary house and food needs 🙂 It pleased my heart to enter stores that feel like home, and fill my cupboards with familiar goods. Also this is the first time I have been to the Trader Joe’s in Orlando, and the pleasure was all mine! 🙂 When TJ got home late Thursday night he was pleased to see that so much had been done. The next day, we got a Christmas tree, and decorated it solely with all the ornaments I’ve been making myself. TJ got right on fixing up things and putting things together, I am so thankful for him.

Unfortunately not too long after TJ came home I got sick and was down for the count for a couple days.

Just like anyone we are going through struggles of another transition. Even if it’s from the travel trailer we lived in to the house we’re in now, there is still a transition period. Our girls have been struggling with their attitude, obedience, and the way they treat each other, from when TJ was gone up till now. TJ and I have been struggling in our marriage this week. These things are difficult and life seems a little off when we struggle and when we’re finding our way if you know what I mean. But we push through!

Today is the first day I am feeling mostly normal and so we were able to get ALOT done, and I am feeling like this is my home, and am able to start feeling a little more settled… for the first time in a long time. I also feel really blessed by the Lord, ALL of our furniture is loaned or given to us by people we know, everything we need! The bonus is that I really love our couch, and our kitchen table, and our living room furniture semi matches! I know it’s not the nicest stuff in the world, but I don’t care. What I care about is that I have all things necessary to have people in my home, it is set up to feed people, love them and get to know them… my true passion in life! 🙂

Ava and Penny are excited about their room and all their toys. Ava has been LOVING playing with her dollhouse stuff that she hasn’t seen in a year, as well as watching their room come together. She loves helping, and cleaning and making things look neat. I can see her face light up as she plays in her room that is all ready for her. One of the cabinets in their room has a low spot to hang all their dress up clothes, and Penny is loving putting every single one on several times a day. Dressing up and “spinning” seems to be her purpose in life at the moment. Today Ava and Penny got along great, which was such a blessing (they normally get a long fairly well, but not this week!) They played outside quite a bit together, painting together, running around the yard, and Ava pushing Penny on the swing (that TJ fixed) for maybe ½ hour straight.

This morning while the girls played for a few hours TJ and I drank coffee together and had one of our planning meetings. We were strategizing for our time here in Florida and figuring out what it will look like to accomplish our goals as well as figuring out what our goals are, and then attacking a few areas of planning that out. I love these meetings because it means we are actually able to think clearly, we are in a place to give of ourselves fully to what we’re doing. And you’re wondering: have you not been able to do that? No, we haven’t. It doesn’t mean that God hasn’t used our time of waiting to grow us and to ask us to be patient and trust him. He has used it to teach me more about being content where he has me, and waiting on him is not bad, it’s just not what I expected. There has been a lot for me to process as we have moved from California to Florida, it was much more difficult than I had imagined. I just figured it would be the next thing and that it would be hard to say goodbyes, but you do what you have to do. My heart has actually ached thinking about California, and relationships there, and all that we experienced through living there as a family.

This is our first week in our home, and it has been 2 months since we have been able to call a place our home that we have actually made our own home! Refreshing? Yes!

As we step into what God has next here for us in Cocoa Florida, will you pray that we will hear God’s voice clearly? That we will accomplish HIS goals? And that people we come into contact with will feel burdened for us and for our ministry as we move forward into reaching unreached people groups? Thank you.